France to free suspected Islamist militants

(Reuters) - French police were expected to release without charge on Friday the last six of 10 suspected Islamic militants arrested in dawn raids two days earlier, legal sources said.

Four were freed on Thursday after prosecutors found there was insufficient evidence to hold them. The sources would not confirm the exact timing of the release of the remaining six on Friday.

French officials said on Wednesday the suspects had been detained preventatively because they had a "similar profile" to Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old al Qaeda-inspired gunman who shot dead seven people, including three Jewish schoolchildren, in southwest France last month.

A police source described those held as "isolated individuals who are self-radicalized".